It is known in the art, for example from the German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS No. 26 34 216 to process bags by an intermediate storage after manufacture and by supplying these bags to the filling machine in a predetermined cyclic manner. The bags are stored after manufacture by being located between two adjacent parallel webs which are wound up in a storage spool from which they are individually delivered to the subsequent processing station. In order to handle the individually delivered bags, the bag filling machine must be equipped with special handling machinery for receiving and correctly positioning the bags and for delivering them to the filling station at the proper time. This additional equipment increases the expense of the bag filling machine and substantially reduces the operating speed of the bag filling machine because of the additional intermediate steps required to handle the empty bags.